*** Official "THE RING" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Jason Wilcox]

i was smiling the whole way through the movie because everything in it worked so well in my mind. the part that i found to scare me the most is...


when she comes out of the tv and is walking towards him...then suddenly appears right in front of him...at first when i saw her coming out of the tv i was thinkin it could be a little dumb....but it worked out so well!

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Just posted my review. I'll start off by saying this:
I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought.
I'm glad this movie came by because I have been searching and searching for a movie to scare me for a long time. And The Ring finally arrived.
I'm going to go ahead and get the negatives out of the way. There's quite a bit of the movie that should've been left a mystery. I've read several reviews, and they pretty much make this assessment although this doesn't take away from the film much for me. The arthouse crowd sure as hell will hate this movie because The Ring doesn't leave enough ambiguity (as opposed to mystery) for the audience to be puzzled about.
Anachronisms don't bother me in general, but I do agree that Anna's choice of dress is extremely odd.
It's a tad predictable too. I figured out what The Ring was before the first time they showed the video.
Before I could get to the positives, I'll address some points.
Seth Paxton's fiancee asked:

Ugh. Save it for the Lifetime Channel, please

Aren't we being a little cynical here?
Let me ask you this: If you believe one premise to be utterly ridiculous, would the opposite be more believable? Would an antagonistic relationship between the mother and father be better? Would pursuing one's selfish need for preservation make for something more compelling?
Now onto my own thoughts. I thought it was scarier than anything I've seen since The Exorcist. There were "jump" scares mixed in with a thoroughly creepy atmostphere. It built up some extremely good suspenseful moments in the film, particularly when the girl at the beginning walks up the stairs. You know she's going to see something that's going to kill her, you know she'll scream, you'll know it's supernatural (read: not much you can do about it), and you'll know she'll die. But nonetheless you'll be frightened. And this affirms one thing: the anticipation of the moment is far greater than the moment itself.
As for myself, I've always thought that the dead were always scarier than the undead. It's kind of a paradox when you consider that what scares me about them is that I think any moment the corpse will jump right at me. :b I had my very first up close and personal look at a dead guy last week. I was volunteering in the E.R. when they rolled in a guy. He had a heart attack. Thirty minutes later, he was dead. The image that will stick in my mind is how wide open and agape the jaw was. I bring this up because that quick image of the dead girl in the closet with her jaw wide open and her rotted flesh was quite possibly the scariest and most disturbing corpse I've ever seen.
And to think, this was some cute girl in a Catholic Schoolgirl uniform only moments before.
Samara coming out of the video screen was awesome!!! The hairs on my neck were literally standing on end. And when her hair turned back and revealed her face ( ) I almost covered my face. I was thinking at that moment, "Holy S**t, Medusa's back!!!" (As a child, Medusa from Clash of the Titans scared the living crap out of me :frowning: ).
The ending was a mixed bag for me. It was good in that it wasn't happy sappy, but it was bad because it seemed like an excuse at the last minute to explain why Naomi Watts didn't live.
I thought the kid did a good job, although paling in comparison with the adults' performances. I'm really puzzled why people were put off by this. I don't need kids in movies to be precocious or anything, but let's face it: the other alternative is Jake Lloyd from The Phantom Menace. Personally, I think it's a great trend to see kids exhibit some sense of restraint and maturity as opposed to being whiny or gregarious all the time.
And the greatest thing of all? It avoids my most hated cliche of all in horror movies: the whiny, freaked out female!!! I hate this cliche, and it serves to perpetuate the stereotype that women can't control themselves in a frightful situation (eg. Eleanor in The Haunting). Look at Ripley from Alien. She's not scared to kick a$$!!! Buffy and Faith fight vampires all the time. It's great and refreshing to see that Naomi Watt's character took charge of an investigation which she knows might not halt her impending death. She had the choice of simply cowering in the corner and screaming her lungs out all day long.

 

[Jarrod_L]

Then show me a PG-13 movie that is scary, psycologically stimulating, and good.

Do movies need explicit violence and nudity to be good? No. All I was saying is that they had a decent premise for a great flim, but they seemed to go for the lame "boo"/kid-friendly, faux horror, IMO.

That being said, the film was far from perfect, but I don't beleive that it was poorly made. It could have been a lot better, that's all...

 

[Justin_S]

Then show me a PG-13 movie that is scary, psycologically stimulating, and good.

I've got one.... THE RING remake!
The scene where Samara comes out of the TV was surprising, because in the original, Sadako didn't teleport like that. I thought it was a spectacular addition, and it made the scene all the more terrifying! I also loved how Samara got fuzzy for a split second just like a television would.
Also, the tape contents were quite disturbing and chilling. The finger pushing down on the thumbtack looked severely painful, the maggots changing into what looked like drowning people was very creepy, and the shot of something being pulled out of someone's mouth was probably the freakiest and most disturbing thing on the entire tape!
Naomi Watts is quickly becoming my favorite actress, and as I said in my previous post, her performance is nothing short of spectacular!

 

[Matt Stone]

I thought the kid did a good job, although paling in comparison with the adults' performances. I'm really puzzled why people were put off by this. I don't need kids in movies to be precocious or anything, but let's face it: the other alternative is Jake Lloyd from The Phantom Menace. Personally, I think it's a great trend to see kids exhibit some sense of restraint and maturity as opposed to being whiny or gregarious all the time.

My problem isn't with the way the kid acted...it's with the fact that it's become cliche recently to have a somewhat clairvoyant child that leads the plot along. He's nothing more than a plot device, IMO.

 

[Matt Stone]

Then show me a PG-13 movie that is scary, psycologically stimulating, and good.

The Sixth Sense, Jaws, The Others...off the top of my head.

 

[Romier S]

The hairs on my neck were literally standing on end. And when her hair turned back and revealed her face

Im glad it worked so well for you Dome!
I saw the film tonight and I thought it was great. Very worthy remake of the original. The reason I quoted you above was because that was the one things that bothered me about the new movie. They showed her face.:frowning:
The original did a much better job of relaying Samarra's/Sadako's evil. She is faceless. She is a monster and she can kill you with but a look. All you ever see is that black hair draped across her head and I'm sure you'll agree that what our imagination draws behind that hair is far scarier than what any director can show us.
The only thing you ever saw of Samarra/Sadako in the original was her one evil eye and I only wish that the filmakers of this remake would have shown a bit more restraint in that regard.
Besides that, this is a thoroughly enjoyable horror movie that is actually quite creepy.
:star: :star: :star: :star: /:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Steeve Bergeron]

The original did a much better job of relaying Samarra's/Sadako's evil.

I completely agree with this. For example, the scene where she's coming out of the TV is so much better/creepier in the original.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Quote:

Well, first off, I'd ask you show me any film since the PG-13 rating was instituted that was scary, psychologically stimulating, and good; very few that fit that bill entirely come to mind for me. That aside, a few PG-13 films that I felt created at least some genuine atmosphere to some extent (even though I disliked the films as a whole for other reasons in some cases) come to mind: Signs, The Mothman Prophecies, The Others, The Sixth Sense, and Jurassic Park. Jaws, btw, was and still is PG (no matter what IMDB says).
DJ

 

[Romier S]

Gosh, you're right...we didn't seen that at all in Halloween and it's myriad progeny. Right. 25 years ago, the brave female protagonist may have violated expectations, but today it's quite standard fare and rather far from "refreshing" in my book.

Well thats the point Damin, its your book. Other peoples books however may differ. Like you said in a previous post, to each thier own.

 

[Tim Raffey]

Why in the hell would this demonic child kill you with a film-school-calibre "experimental" film?

 

[Christ Reynolds]

two things i dont understand---
when we find the first girl, she is in the closet. but doesnt she die at the doorway as soon as she opens the door? and, scott at the end. he dies on the floor, but rachel finds him in a chair.

so whats up with these? just coincidences? or do they have meaning? i doubt they have meaning, because a movie with that many plot holes would go so far as to place hidden meanings here and there. it was fairly enjoyable, creepy at times, but doesnt fit well together as a movie. good to see the main character driving a jetta II though. more love for VW. over all, i give this one a :star: :star: /:star: :star: :star: :star: .

 

[Quentin]

I think this is probably true...but, it's also probably true that Sadako's "appearance" was more frightening because you saw it first! Also, if you saw it when it first became a hit, you saw it before many successful horror films since then.

Basically, I thought this was a mediocre (at best) remake of a film that is, by now, too hackneyed to deserve a remake.

That said, Gore Verbinski deserves top marks for some excellent stylism and a good job at maintaining eeriness. But, I think most people that found this film to be "scary" were mostly impressed by Samara's "appearance"...which was most of the oomph in the original as well.

Another glaring weakness in this remake that has not yet been discussed is the failure to include any sort of occult background for Samara and her family. In the original, Sadako's mother was some world class psychic with powers. The occult edge made it more "believable" that Sadako could do what she did. "The Ring" has none of that.

 

[Romier S]

Quote:

I think adding any kind of occult background would have added further to peoples complaints that the movie already "explained" too much. The ambiguity of what Samarra is and how she came to be at the very least leaves the audience with something to ponder and discuss. I think it was a trade-off. "Do we go into the girls past and show them what she is?" "Or do we concentrate on showing the audience the reason behind the tape and the resolution to Rachel and hers sons ordeal?". Could both have been done? Yes I suppose, but I think the filmakers knew that they may have been giving too much away and decided to get stingy with the most interesting story of all.
Furthermore the original film is somewhat steeped in Japanese culture IMHO. Delving in mysticism and the "spirit" of the earth and what not in several key scenes (with grandfather and such). Things which I feel would not have translated well into the American remake.

 

[Andres Munoz]

I liked this movie a lot! It's been a while since a movie could scare me like that.
What else can we expect from a movie that was directed by a guy named GORE and whose screenwriter's last name is KRUGER?
I gotta get my hands on the original movie.

 

[James_G]

I have kind of mixed feelings on this one. I mean, everything seems to have been done relatively well -- the effects, acting, story...but it just wasn't scary. I tried to think of the parts that supposedly scared the snot out of people and I just can't. Even the so-called eerie parts did nothing for me. I've seen most of this stuff done before.
I dunno...maybe I'm just jaded because I've seen so many horror films? Something about it just rubbed me the wrong way.
-edit
Just for the record, I haven't seen the original Ring. I'll have to check it out.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I also wanted to comment on The Changeling comparisons. I think that's a pretty cool one, given the similarities that there's a well involved and one pissed off ghost.
Damin J Toell said:

The only thing you ever saw of Samarra/Sadako in the original was her one evil eye and I only wish that the filmakers of this remake would have shown a bit more restraint in that regard.

Another reason why I want to see the original. Was the rest of the face darkened out? Was the hair and one shiny eye showing?

 

[Seth Paxton]

In fact Dome, if someone said to me "It was just The Changeling except for the end" then I would agree. I wouldn't consider it a fault since the circumstances were different, but there is no denying the strong similarities.
And as I said, specifically because of the fact that once I saw it becoming The Changeling (especially in how/where they find the body) I was more caught off guard by the actual resolution which gave it more impact.
My fiancee has not seen Changeling and fully expected the girl to be able to leave the video. Why? Because the fly did. I just wasn't thinking the same way as her since I just thought this was some freaky vision she was having.
But then on the opposite side when Watts goes in the well I was mostly comfortable because we were now clearly in the realm of Changeling and I had little doubts about the benevolent ghost (with respect to Watts at least). Meanwhile my fiancee was clenching my arm in a death grip of fear.
So maybe there is a lot to be said for the effectiveness of this film being tied into your perception of what is going on. She and I were seeing different things in the film the whole time, or rather seeing the same things in different ways.
Regarding the body placement, we do not see the actual death of either character so there is nothing that says that they didn't die exactly where they were found.

 

[Romier S]

oops double.

 

[Seth Paxton]

I should also add that early on I thought all the deaths were hypnoticically induced by a subliminal message on the video.

Only Watts is shown answering the phone and "hearing" the voice. The film seemed to intentionally deny us seeing other characters acknowledging such a phone call (the message is deleted, phone's go unaswered or quickly hung up - and when she does answer it turns out not to be the girl).

That told me that there was no real phone call from the girl and it was all in her head. This lead me to think that the tape just told people they would die and they believed it in their subconsious. I thought the kids had killed themselves out of this fear and that the one girl and just frightened herself to death.

I thought this for quite some time actually, as long as anyone who hadn't seen the tape had not acknowledged anything unusual going on. I even wondered if the dad had created such a tape to get the unwanted daughter to kill herself and the mother had found out and maybe even seen it to (thus her death).

So this also added to the twist by keeping me looking in the wrong direction for so long.